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Shannon Scott arrived at Ohio State as a McDonald's All-American and one of the most coveted point guards in his recruiting class, but his college career was largely a mixed bag. Expectations were high in Columbus on the eve of Scott's senior season, but Scott's uneven play left much to be desired for fans and scouts alike. Scott was nevertheless named All-Big 10 Honorable Mention and Ohio State managed to sneak into the NCAA Tournament with a 10-seed. He showed flashes of brilliance as a point guard and earned his reputation as a defensive stopper, but it still remains to be seen whether he'll be drafted or what kind of NBA career he'll be able to carve out.

At 6'1 with a solid 185-pound frame and a 6'3.5 wingspan, Scott has decent size for the NBA point guard position. He is also has ample athleticism, possessing an excellent physical profile for the next level.

The issue remains that Scott has never been able to translate his physical gifts into productivity or consistency. He actually took a small step back in terms of his scoring, at just 11.0 points per 40 minutes pace adjusted, which once again ranked him among the least prolific offensive players in our top-100 rankings. Part of this can be attributed to the presence of elite freshman combo-guard D'Angelo Russell, but Scott was given plenty of opportunity to show he can shoulder a bigger load for Ohio State. He nevertheless ranked as one the least efficient scorers in our top-100, with a 49% TS% that leads you to believe that things will be easier at the next level.

Scott will never be asked to play a high-volume role at the NBA level, but his inability to develop as an outside shooter could be a major hindrance at the next level. He made just 28% of his overall 3-point attempts for his career at Ohio State, which is exactly the 3-point percentage he shot as a senior, an indication of his lack of improvement in that regard. On film, he still displays the same inconsistent mechanics, particularly in terms of how he splays his left elbow out on his shots. At this point, he just does not have perimeter shooting range, arguably the key to his prospects at the next level.

He did, however, show some slight improvement as a mid-range shooter. Delving deeper into the numbers reveals that Scott made 38% of his jump shots from inside of the arc, 37.5% of his unguarded catch-and-shoot attempts, and 34.7% of his jump shots off of the dribble. While nobody will mistake Scott as a knock-down shooter at this point, his improvement as a senior coupled with his 73.7% free throw percentage (up from 68.3% as a junior), suggests that there still might be some hope of him developing a competent jumper yet.

Outside of his shooting, Scott once again struggled to finish in transition, making just 44.2% of his attempts and turning the ball over on 20% of his attempts. While he made 55.3% of his shots around the basket, he did so on just 38 attempts, showing more about just how much he struggles getting to the rim in the half-court. Ultimately, while Scott remains effective on straight line drives due to his first step, he still lacks the creative ball-handling skills required to be an effective slasher, hence his struggles in transition. He also went to the foul line even less often than he did as a junior, a paltry 2.2 attempts per 40 minutes pace adjusted, despite his solid athleticism. It is fair to wonder at this stage whether Scott will ever be anything more than a mediocre scorer at any point in his career.

One area where Scott showed significant progress was as a distributor. Scott averaged a career high 7.7 assists per 40 minutes pace adjusted, ranking second among prospects in our top-100 prospect rankings. Scott was always an unselfish player with good court vision, but he took a step forward as Ohio State's primary distributor, running the pick and roll, finding teammates streaking to the basket, and kicking it out to the perimeter. The problem, however, is that Scott also ranked as one of the most turnover prone prospects in our top-100. At times, Scott appeared to be playing too fast, made bad decisions and struggled to control the tempo of the game, coughing the ball up on a sky-high 24% of his possessions. Still, Scott posted an outstanding 4.99 PPR, and 2.48 assist to turnover ratio, showing that he is one of the best distributors in this draft class, something NBA teams will surely be intrigued with, especially once he's playing with better talent around him.

With that said, Scott is still at his best on the defensive end of the floor. His outstanding lateral quickness allows him to stay in front of guards at either position, he works hard to close out on shooters, and he has strength and quickness to guard the pick-and-roll. His 2.3 steals per 40 minutes pace adjusted also rank fifth among prospects in our top-100 and represents just how relentless he can be as a defender. The issue here is that his tendency to gamble can leave him out of position and his teammates overburdened, even if it creates problems for opposing offenses. Regardless of his faults, however, Scott is one of the best defenders in college basketball and should have no problem fitting in on this end of the floor at the next level.

Is Shannon Scott a legitimate NBA prospect? It seems as though the jury is still out. Following Ohio State's NCAA Tournament exit, Scott must now prove to scouts that he can become a competent jump shooter and someone the defense at least needs to account for. If he can do so, then decision makers might consider his combination of court vision and defensive intensity is worthwhile of a flier in the second round. If he doesn't get picked, Scott has the makings of a classic third NBA point guard, and it wouldn't be a surprise at all to see him on a NBA roster and carve out a Kevin Ollie or Ronnie Price type career.

The #31 recruit in the country coming out of high school according to the RSCI, Shannon Scott's college career got off to somewhat of a slow start (11 mpg freshman, 21 mpg sophomore) at Ohio State. With Aaron Craft now out of the picture, Scott has an opportunity to shoulder the point guard responsibilities full time for the Buckeyes, and try to show he's worthy of a NBA roster spot in his last year of college basketball.

Scott has never been looked at for offense at Ohio State, as his 11.3 points per-40 minutes last season was a career high, but still rank him amid the least prolific scorers among returning collegiate pro prospects. At 52% (also a career high), his true shooting percentage shows he wasn't especially efficient with his limited scoring opportunities either, which calls into question whether he will be considered an offensive liability at the pro level.

Playing alongside a very limited outside shooter in Aaron Craft, Scott has seen most of his offense playing off the ball in his career thus far, which likely isn't his strength. He's somewhat inconsistent as a ball-handler and slasher, though, as he turns the ball over on 21% of his possessions and struggles to create offense efficiently in the half-court against set defenses.

Scott is a very good athlete, blessed with a strong first step, nice quickness, and an excellent frame, while standing 6-2. Despite not being a brilliant ball-handler or the most creative slasher around, he can get to the basket fairly well in a straight line, even if he doesn't always know what to do once he's there. Scott was just an average finisher around the basket last year, hitting 53% of his looks at the rim in the half-court. He doesn't have much of a left hand and has a tendency to just throw the ball up on the rim, where he shows mediocre touch. He doesn't get to the free throw line that often, just 2.7 times per-40, a figure that should be higher considering his physical tools. Things weren't much better in the transition game either last season, where he averaged just a point per possession, which is very pedestrian relative to most guards.

That wouldn't be that problematic if Scott was a better outside shooter. Due to his limitations as a shot-creator and the fact that he played largely off the ball alongside Craft, 78% of his half-court shots came off jumpers, of which he knocked down an average 35%.

Scott looked decent pulling up off the dribble in a relatively limited sample size (23/58, 40%) but struggled badly shooting with his feet set (30%) which made him a poor fit to play next to Craft in what was already a very poorly spaced floor on a team that featured almost no perimeter shooting.

Scott's shooting mechanics are not broken, but are somewhat inconsistent, as his elbow tends to flail out and he doesn't show very good touch in general, having some very bad misses. The fact that he only hit 68% of his free throws last year (63% as a sophomore) isn't a great sign. Becoming a more consistent shooter will be imperative for his chances to stick in the NBA, as he looks unlikely to emerge as a high-level scorer inside the arc at this stage considering his somewhat mechanical offensive game.

One area that Scott shows quite a bit of offensive promise in is as a passer. His has very solid court vision, seeing and reading the floor well and being capable of making quick and sound decisions with the ball in his hands. He's an unselfish player who probably wasn't in an ideal place to post gaudy assist numbers considering how much Ohio State's offense struggled to put points on the board, but the 7.5 assists per-40 he averaged as a sophomore shows his strong potential in this area.

While Scott's playmaking ability bodes well for his future, the meat and potatoes of his NBA potential revolves around his work on the defensive end. He combines strong physical tools here with terrific fundamentals and a high intensity level, helping him play a major role in Ohio State ranking as the third best defense in college basketball last season.

Scott is always in a defensive stance, moving his feet, putting excellent pressure on his opponent and absolutely hawking the ball. Few players can close out on a shooter and contest shots as quickly and instinctively as Scott does. He operates as somewhat of a free safety in Ohio State's defense, regularly cheating off his man and helping out his teammates all over the floor. His mobility, timing and aggressiveness helps him navigate around screens, rotate around defensively and make plays on the perimeter constantly.

Scott is one of the best ball-thieves in college basketball, averaging over 3 steals per-40 minutes in each of the past two seasons, an extremely high rate. He has terrific instincts for sticking his hands in the right place and jumping in the passing lanes, and also contributes on the glass, averaging over 5 rebounds per-40 for the second straight year as well.

Scott's defensive prowess and ability to guard both backcourt position should make him an attractive candidate for teams looking for a third point guard they can throw into a game to lock up the other team's best backcourt player. His playmaking instincts indicate that he won't hurt a team too much offensively either, and he's already shown that he knows how to play a role, even if his lack of scoring ability is a clear negative in today's fast-paced NBA. With that said, he looks like the type of player who would likely look much better playing alongside four player who can actually score as opposed to the collection of offensively challenged players the Buckeyes fielded last year.

It will be interesting to see how Scott's role evolves this year now that the ball is in his hands full time and #1 option Laquinton Ross is no longer in the fold--and especially how that will that affect his already middling efficiency. This is a big season for Shannon Scott, who has waited for three years to show that he can be the leader of a NCAA Tournament team. NBA scouts will surely be watching closely.

After being ranked as the #31 prospect in the 2011 class by RSCI , Shannon Scott has not yet played a prominent role in the Ohio State offense, as he averaged only 4.9 points per game in 20.9 minutes per game last season. With Deshaun Thomas leaving for the NBA, the Buckeyes are without a go-to scorer for the first time in Scott's collegiate career, making this a key season for Scott's draft stock.

Scott has superb athletic tools, highlighted by his speed, showcased both with and without the ball. He stands 6'2, 175 pounds, which is a good build for a point guard. He needs to do a better job of controlling his speed as he sometimes gets out of control, leading to wild shot attempts or turnovers. This athleticism also shows in his excellent rebounding ability for a point guard, as his 5.5 rebounds per 40 minutes pace adjusted ranked 11th for points guards last season.

Playing alongside high usage players such as Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas in his first two seasons, Scott's main role has been handling the ball and running the offense. A majority of Scott's contributions came from setting up his teammates as his 7.5 assists per 40 minutes pace adjusted ranked 11th among point guards last season. His passing ability is superb and he is comfortable with all the passes a point guard needs to make, from post entry passes to hitting cutters in stride and distributing well to shooters. At the same time, his 2.4 turnovers per 40 minutes pace adjusted ranked among the lowest among point guards last season. He is great at initiating the offense and keeping the ball moving without forcing anything in the half court.

His speed allows him to get out in transition, as 30% of his possessions used were categorized as transition opportunities by Synergy Sports. He does not generate efficient offense for himself in these scenarios, as he created only .915 points per possession but when you add in his assists, he moves up to 1.49 points per possession. He struggles when he looks for his own shot, as he settles for pull up jumpers too often or is out of control on his layup attempts. He is much more confident in drawing the defense, finding the open teammate and allowing them to finish.

Outside of transition opportunities, Scott did not see many offensive opportunities. He took only 27 catch and shoot jump shots, off which he made 40%. He has nice mechanics but lacks confidence and could be much more consistent with his follow through which will make him a better shooter over a larger sample. He struggled at the rim, shooting only 43% on 37 possessions. He has a tendency to avoid contact which forces him to throw up wild, off balance shots. He also relies on a finger roll, which has a propensity to get blocked by big men helping on his drive.

Defensively, Scott is often charged with guarding the primary ball handler on the opposing team. He works hard on the defensive end to harass his man and make it hard to initiate the offense. He has good defensive instincts and a combination of his quick hands and ability to jump the passing lanes allowed him to average 3.3 steals per game, 3rd in the nation among point guards per 40 pace adjusted . The skills are there for him to be a solid defensive player, he just needs to shore up his fundamentals a bit so that he can match up against great offensive players.

Scott excels in guarding the pick and roll, as his speed allows him to recover to slow down his man after he fights through the screen. He needs to improve on getting around the screen as he relies too much on his speed instead of focusing on proper defensive positioning. Better offensive players will be able to take advantage of the space they have when Scott gets caught in the screen.

The physical tools are there for Scott and he has showed promise in his limited role in his first two seasons. He'll need to balance his role of running an offense while taking on an expanded role in terms of shots attempted. Scott will also need to refine his offensive skills over a larger sample size, improving his ability to finish at the rim while retaining his ability to create offense for his teammates. Scott will need to show he can handle a larger offensive role while still running an efficient offense to boost his draft stock this season.

One of the most impressive players we saw this weekend, especially relative to his modest class rankings, Shannon Scott (#38 Scout, #65 Rivals, #43 ESPN) is an extremely mature floor general with a great feel for the game.

Standing 6-2 with very good length and a solid frame, Scott has all the athleticism and physical tools he needs, especially given his crafty, aggressive style of play. He has a very calm court demeanor, rarely changing his expression, never complaining to officials, and bringing a very business-like approach to running his team's offense.

As a point guard, Scott didn't show much in terms of shot creation for others here, being forced into more of a scoring role on this team where the passing is pretty evenly distributed across the roster. His point guard instincts are one of his biggest strengths according to recruiting analysts and based on the little we've previously seen of him in AAU, but here he showed the ability to adjust his game based on his team's needs, looking extremely comfortable in a different role.

Looking nearly unstoppable attacking the basket at this event, Scott can take his man equally well going left and right, has no problems switching hands with the ball in the lane, can finish with both power and finesse, and shows excellent creativity in the lane. He scored on a variety of lay-ups, finger rolls, reverses, and by getting to the free-throw line, hitting on 7-of-11 from the field and 8-of-9 from the line. His instincts scoring the ball are outstanding, and he rarely forced his attempts despite attacking so frequently.

Scott also mixed in some mid-range jumpers, looking comfortable pulling up from 15-18 feet while showing solid form both from the line and the field. He didn't attempt any three-point shots and improving his range and reliability from the perimeter are probably the biggest things he can work on as a player going forward.

Defensively, he shows good hands and ability in both isolation and team defense, though his effort level fell off as the game went on, with him coasting through plays and even giving up at times later in the game. His team won the game against one of the top-ranked teams in the country largely behind his offensive efforts, so it's tough to criticize him too much for conserving energy on defense, but this will be something to watch more closely at the next level.

Looking forward, Scott appears to be clearly underrated by the recruiting services based on what we've seen from him in both AAU and at the high school level, and should be an instant impact player for Ohio State next season. His ability to excel both as a floor general and scorer combined with his physical tools makes him a very intriguing prospect long term, especially if his perimeter shooting can catch up with the rest of his game.